The Rise of Dragon Temple By Wu Xia

Chapter 40 At about six o'clock in the evening, Joseph cooked a meal for Chloe. After having dinner, he took her downstairs to play. Then, at seven o'clock in the evening, Serena cback. She was in a denim outfit, and her hair was tied up in a ponytail. Coincidently, she spotted Joseph taking something from his new car. At that sight, her eyes glimmered, and she walked to the Mercedes-Benz. “Joseph, did you buy this car? Wow! It’s Mercedes-Benz S- class! How beautiful...” To that, Joseph nodded and beamed, “Well, | bought it for Paige. What do you think? Does this suit her temperament?” With her eyes glued to the car, Serena went forward to feel it. Then, she turned her head and uttered bitterly, “I also want one. | think S-class suitstoo...” Hearing her words, Joseph chuckled, “Sure, | will give you one after my wedding with Paige next month. Initially, | thought of buying you something better, like Porsche or Ferrari, but since you like Mercedes S, okay then...” When Serena listened to Joseph's banter, her face instantly went bitter, and she laughed bitterly, “No, please don’t do this to me. | won't mind having a Porsche...” Once again, Joseph chuckled, “Alright, I'll buy whatever you want in the future. Paige has gone to the gathering, right? Please take care of Chloe. Also, Alpha | is nearby. So, you don’t have to worry about safety, and have fun with Chloe...” Right away, Serena nodded. “Sure, you should get going and make her proud!” At the stime, Chloe also waved her little hands at Joseph and cheered, “Go for it, Daddy! Go for it!” Looking chic, Joseph opened the car door, got into the car, and replied, “Haha, that’s a must for my wife! Whoever dares to look down on her, they'll know!” After saying that, he stepped on the gas and drove toward the hotel Serena mentioned.

At 8 p.m., in a private room of Mirage Hotel, Paige was with a group of neatly dressed men and women. Every year, her college classmates in Oplen would have a gathering. However, for the past few years, Paige never participated in it. This time, when her classmates knew that she had returned, they insisted that she cover.

Although her classmates’ motives were apparent, Paige naively thought that tonight's gathering was merely a get-together with classmates. After all, she hadn't attended one. Moreover, shortly after her graduation, she got pregnant and gave birth to Chloe. Therefore, she had lost contact with her classmates. After she and the others were seated, a woman in a long white dress walked to her with a glass of red wine. Smilingly, that woman said, “Hey, Paige. Do you still remember me? | am Lei, Leila White...” Leila was decent-looking. Judging from her sharp nose, she seemed to have undergone plastic surgery. Besides, she had long hair and was wearing a shoulder-less dress. As she looked charming and sexy, plenty of men in the room couldn't help ogling at her. Being approached, Paige looked up and stared at Leila for a while. Once she remembered Leila, she smiled, “Oh, Lei.

It's been a long time. How are you doing? | remember you've always wanted to be a hotel manager during our college days. By now, | believe you must've achieved it...” Hearing that, Leila deliberately sighed and whined, “Yep, I've achieved it, but I'm just the manager of a small hotel, and my salary is only a little more than 10,000 dollars. Actually, I've always wanted to work in Mirage Hotel since college, but | couldn’t get in. So, | can only work in a small hotel. How unfortunate...” At this moment, another female classmate responded enviously, “Con, Lei. If you think this is unfortunate, what does that make us? Don’t you know that Oplen is incomparable to the top-tier big cities like Usmait and Vowhye? A monthly salary of 10,000 dollars is considered the highest here. So, you should be thankful. If you think yours isn’t enough, we should kill ourselves then.” “She's right. Quit showing off. You know we are not as good as you are...” Another female classmate responded sourly. Spreading out her hands, Leila replied, “Seriously? Have all of you forgotten about Brooks Nichols? He is now a senior executive of Gempoint Group, and his basic salary is around 30,000 dollars. Excluding commission.

Now, this is what you call a winner of life. But | don’t know why isn’t he here today. Alas, | guess we're no longer worthy of his time...” When Paige heard Brooks’ name, her heart skipped a beat. Right away, she lowered her head and drank swater because she had just met him this afternoon. But since he had the tto meet her, why didn’t he ctonight? Sure enough, if Serena were here, she would've snorted, “If Brooks dared to come, that would be weird.” Due to Estella’s suspicion, Joseph let Brooks off the hook. Otherwise, Joseph could've either killed him or banished him from Oplen forever. And most probably, Brooks had fled by now... “Alright, my dear Lei. Brooks is doing well, but you're not bad either. Don’t you know that both of you are the best among our classmates in Oplen? By the way, how are things between you and him? Rumors have been circulating all these years...” another female classmate spoke. Now that Brooks was absent, Leila becthe center of the gathering. Needless to say, she deserved it. Not only was she beautiful, but she also had great socializing skills.

After hearing what that classmate said, Leila glanced at Paige and sighed, “So what? | like him, but he doesn’t likeat all. Paige, | heard he was fond of you since back then. Didn't he look for you? He hardly comes back this time.” Paige’s body stiffened. For a moment, she was at a loss for words. In fact, she didn’t have to reply because immediately, another female student spoke in an insulting tone, “Oh my god, Paige? As if she won't feel embarrassed. Do you really not know or are you pretending to?” “Huh? What do you mean, Polly?” Leila turned her eyes, pretending not to know. Then, Polly Marshall—a woman with blonde hair-ridiculed, “What did | mean? Pfft! Do you seriously think she’s all that great?” After a pause, she continued mocking, “Swoman got pregnant right after graduating, and once her child was born, she left. Now, | heard that she is back with a four- year-old child. So, do you think Brooks will still like her? Hehe...” “Wait! Really? Oh, as expected from one of the two campus beauties. Where did she even get the guts to do such shameless stuff...” another girl gibed.

Twitching her lips, Polly uttered, “Duh! Stop pretending to be confused! You guys knew it! And why didn’t she have the guts to do so? Don’t you see she’s here? Haha! She’s bold as brass...” Instantaneously, all the women in the room gave Paige a peculiar look. With her head lowered, Paige could feel a burning pain on her face, losing the confidence to look up. Although she wanted to leave, Lei was behind her, blocking her intentionally. For a split second, she felt miserable... Just then, a man couldn't stand it anymore. So, he reprimanded Polly, “Can't you shut it? We are classmates, and we're here for a class reunion.” As soon as he finished, Polly gave him a contemptuous look and retorted, “Shut up, Bronson! Are you pretending to be a hero? Oh, | remember. You wrote her a love letter back then. But too bad, she threw it without bothering to read it. Well, she was a campus beauty, after all. And even if she wasn’t right now, she is still out of your league, you loser. Look at you. After all these years, you have only beca property agent. | doubt you can even afford to feed your family!” Upon hearing that, Bronson Burnett stood up and yelled, “How dare you! Don’t go too far! No matter how little | earn, | earn it with my hard work. Unlike you, prostituting in the nightclub for money!” “Bam!” Polly slammed the table and stood up. Pointing to Bronson, she shrieked, “What did you say?!” “Pooh! Who are you to judge people with money and act all mighty? You're nothing but a wh*re...” Bronson sneered. Hearing that, Polly quivered with anger and was about to shoot her lips. However, Leila shouted, “Enough! What are you two doing in our class gathering? Also, | heard Paige had a boyfriend, and she is now married.” After she finished, she shot Paige a strange look and asked, “You're married, am | right? Where is your husband? Is he back here with you?” Not only was her tone filled with sarcasm, but there was also a hint of disdain in her eyes. “Yes, where is your husband, Paige? Since you were one of the two campus beauties, you must've picked a powerful man. Besides, you don’t even spare a glance at Brooks, so | assyour husband must be at least an executive or a boss,” Judging from how the fancily dressed Polly added insult to the injury, she was obviously in cahoots with Leila. When Leila looked at Paige—who lowered her head quietly in embarrassment she was extremely pleased. Due to having feelings toward Brooks, she had always hated Paige, and now, she finally found an opportunity to humiliate Paige... “No, my husband...” Under the gaze of her classmates at the dinner table, Paige wanted to explain something. However, before she could finish, Leila interrupted, “It’s okay.

Actually, I've heard something about you. Your husband is jobless, isn’t he? Well, | can introduce him to a job.

Our hotel is recruiting waiters anyway. Why don’t you ask him to have a try? | will offer him 3,000 dollars a month. What do you think?” “Pfft! Waiter? Okay, that’s better than nothing, but 3,000 dollars for that wastrel? You gotta be kidding me! Paige, shouldn't you thank Lei?” Polly scorned. Paige trembled. Now, she finally saw their true colors. From the beginning, they were only here to make fun of her. While biting her lip, she gritted her teeth and took a deep breath. At that moment, she no longer had the desire to stay here. Therefore, she stood up, preparing to leave. However, as soon as she turned around, she saw Joseph walking in with several men and women with extraordinary momentum. Seeing that, she was puzzled. On the other hand, Polly-who sat opposite Paige—exclaimed, “Oh my god! That's Lara Bennett, the chairman of Mirage Hotel and the most capable woman entrepreneur in Oplen! Wait, Lei’s hotel chairman-Brian Mccarty—is here too! But who is the bigshot standing between them?” Once Polly finished her words, everyone's eyes fell on Lara and the other bosses, as well as the handsman in the middle, who was escorted politely by them. Suddenly, the man in the middle looked in Polly’s direction with surprise. Then, his eyes fell on Paige, and he gasped, “Honey, why are you here?” Following Joseph's words, a hush descended over the crowd. As for those women who had just ridiculed Paige, their mouths were wide opened, and they looked at Paige in disbelief...